"We're having the first computer-generated comic strip in the United States"
About this Quote
A tiny brag with a big tell: the excitement isn’t really about jokes on a page, it’s about crossing a technological threshold and getting credit for being first. Coming from Majel Barrett - an actress whose fame is braided into sci-fi’s long romance with futurism - the line reads like a backstage announcement that the future has finally arrived on schedule, right down to the punchlines.
The specific intent is promotional and evangelical. “We’re having” frames it as a communal event, not a niche experiment; it invites the audience to join a milestone, not merely consume a product. “First” does the heavy lifting, turning a technical process into cultural capital. The phrase “computer-generated” is the star. In an era when computers still carried a whiff of institutional power - labs, defense contracts, corporate mainframes - importing that aura into comics signals legitimacy, novelty, and inevitability. It’s less “look at this strip” than “watch a medium evolve.”
The subtext is faith in automation as creativity’s next co-author, with a faint competitive edge: America staking a flag in a new kind of entertainment manufacturing. There’s also an unspoken anxiety baked in. If a computer can generate a comic strip, what else can it generate? Barrett’s buoyant tone works as a pressure valve, smoothing over the threat with showbiz optimism.
Context matters: Barrett wasn’t just any actress; she functioned as a living bridge between science-fiction’s imagined technologies and the real-world gadgets audiences were learning to trust. The line sells progress as spectacle, and it works because it makes innovation feel like something you can laugh at - and therefore live with.
The specific intent is promotional and evangelical. “We’re having” frames it as a communal event, not a niche experiment; it invites the audience to join a milestone, not merely consume a product. “First” does the heavy lifting, turning a technical process into cultural capital. The phrase “computer-generated” is the star. In an era when computers still carried a whiff of institutional power - labs, defense contracts, corporate mainframes - importing that aura into comics signals legitimacy, novelty, and inevitability. It’s less “look at this strip” than “watch a medium evolve.”
The subtext is faith in automation as creativity’s next co-author, with a faint competitive edge: America staking a flag in a new kind of entertainment manufacturing. There’s also an unspoken anxiety baked in. If a computer can generate a comic strip, what else can it generate? Barrett’s buoyant tone works as a pressure valve, smoothing over the threat with showbiz optimism.
Context matters: Barrett wasn’t just any actress; she functioned as a living bridge between science-fiction’s imagined technologies and the real-world gadgets audiences were learning to trust. The line sells progress as spectacle, and it works because it makes innovation feel like something you can laugh at - and therefore live with.
Quote Details
| Topic | Technology |
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